Note: This chapter is awkward to me, especially the part on the yacht. You can't really see the yacht very good in the movie so I was kinda blind in the description.

Chapter Five: Out and About

The next day was Friday. Good old Friday. Her last night to work until Sunday night.

Not that she didn't enjoy her job, but the text she had gotten from Giles confirmed that the bronze dagger she now had safely hidden away in her hotel room was the dagger the vamps were looking for, so she could concentrate on other things.

She had spoken to Willow, told her about meeting Batman, but she had not mentioned that he was Bruce Wayne. She didn't think she had the right to spread that bit of knowledge around, even to her best friend, who was several thousand miles away.

She got a lot of cataloguing done that night, and afterward she took out a few vamps that had blipped on her Slayer radar. She walked the streets afterward, patrolling, but she neither saw nor felt Batman's presence anywhere. She hoped he was safe.

The next day, Saturday, she went to the staff meeting at the museum at 8:30, just before opening for the day. It was short, and was mainly her introduction to everyone for there were still a few people that worked there that she had not met yet. Everyone was warm and pleasant and she felt really glad to be there and was looking forward to being there for some time longer.

She was making her way to the exit of the museum. There were crowds of people coming in to explore and learn and she dodged them all as she searched her purse for the key to her room. It had struck her right after the meeting that she did not recollect taking it with her. Great. Now she was locked out.

Sighing, searching for the fifth time just to be sure, and not watching where she was going, she ran right into someone.

"I am so sorry," she began, looking up from the seemingly bottomless pit of a purse she had, when her eyes met a pleasant sight.

She had run into the one and only Bruce Wayne.

"I thought I would find you here," he told her, his hand on her arm to steady her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I just seem to have left my room key in my room."

"Oh. Well, that is easily fixed. Are you going back there now?"

"No." She shook her head, setting the purse strap on her shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure I had really forgotten it, but I was just going to. . . ." She motioned vaguely around, and then sighed. "I don't know what I was going to do, but I was going to do something."

He smiled at her. "If you want to do something, I can show you around if you like. My car is right outside."

One second of thought on the subject. "Okay. That sounds nice."

It seemed kind of strange, knowing what she knew, and he not knowing she knew it, but he knowing what he knew, thinking that she didn't know he knew.

It was kind of sweet, in a confusing sort of way.

He led her out of the museum and a little way down the block until he stopped next to a car that she could not believe he was opening the door to (it actually opened up instead of out) and motioned for her to get in.

"Okay," she said, sliding (yes, she actually slid) in. The seat was the most comfortable thing she had ever sat in, the leather all nice and soft and cool. The outside of the car was a dark silver gray, but the inside was suede brown. It was amazing.

He got into the driver's seat, the smile still on his face, and started the engine. It not only roared to life, but she could feel it in her bones. "Can you drive?" He asked her, his hand on the gear shifter.

"Can I?" She asked, rhetorically. Of course she could drive. Knew how to.

"Well, maybe once we're out of the city, but until then, I think I will, just until you know where you are going." His eyes still on her, he put the car in drive, and peeled out, merging with traffic.

She started to call him a 'smart-ass', but the sudden acceleration and then the equally fast slow down to keep from hitting the car they had pulled out behind, jolted the breath out of her for a few moments.

"So, where are we going?" She asked. She hadn't realized until that moment that she was gripping the door awful tight. She hoped she hadn't damaged it. She let go and put her hands in her lap where her purse was.

Instead of an answer, she got that boyish grin again, full of mischief, and he turned down a side street that was void of traffic in their direction. He gunned the engine, taking this street, making the green light for the next two streets, in about twenty seconds, before screeching to a slower speed and turning down yet another street.

Between the breakneck speed he traveled at times, and the constant turning, adding onto the fact she knew hardly anything about his city, she was soon utterly lost, with no idea where they were or where they could possibly be headed.

Soon, the tall buildings thinned out and when he turned the car onto another street, the river was to her right, with warehouses across it on the other side. The sun was hidden behind the city to her left, only peeking out in the few seconds that they passed an open street on that side. The car was going incredibly fast at times, so some things were a blur even to her. They traveled this way for awhile until rounding the city on the northern edge, keeping the river to the right and the major hub of the city on the left. Soon, she could see the airport in the distance. But instead of taking the bridge, they turned right, and soon came to a marina full of large boats. He parked here, the car coming to a smooth stop, and turned off the engine.

"Ready?" He jumped out of the car and came around to her side, opening the door for her. "This will only take a minute." He offered her his hand and she took it, sliding out of the car this time. "You can leave that here." He motioned to her purse, so she dropped it into the seat she had occupied. He closed the door and then, quite bravely, she had to give him credit, took her hand in his, and led her onto the docks. They went way down to the end to where a large yacht was sitting. White with black trim, the sails tucked in, it was a very beautiful and expensive looking wonder.

"Yours?" She asked and he nodded. "It's beautiful."

"Thank you," he answered. He still held her hand, and he led her around the side, and once there, he pulled down a walkway. "After you."

She walked up and onto the yacht. It was incredible. She could see through the glass a large area with a full couch, chairs, a huge TV, and a fireplace right in the middle of the room. He opened the sliding glass doors and led her in.

"The galley is below decks, as is the full master bedroom and bath." He put his hands in his pockets, his gaze never leaving her as she looked around. The sofa and chairs were soft leather, almost as soft as the seats in the car. The tables were glass and the rug was plushy. She wanted to take her shoes off and rub her feet on it. "Do you like it?"

"Yes," she said, nodding enthusiastically. She peered out the other set of glass doors to the water beyond. "I have never been on anything like this before."

"Tomorrow night is a special night to the city. A Founding Day kind of celebration. They set off fireworks from the time the sun goes down until midnight. Beautiful to see from a roof top, but even more so from the water." He paused, still intent on her. "I was going to take her out and watch them. I would like it if you came with me."

She froze, her eyes going wide. Wait a minute, did he just ask her to go out on his yacht with him, tomorrow night, to watch fireworks? She turned to him. "Really?"

He nodded, hands still in his pockets, his eyes and mouth smiling. The suit he wore was just as immaculate as the one he had worn the other night at the museum, except this one was black, with a white pinstriped shirt, and dark gray tie.

"But you hardly know me. Wait! You don't know me at all." Why was she arguing? Why was she wondering why she was arguing?

"What better way to get started knowing someone then a night on the ocean with fireworks?"

A night? Did he just say 'a night' on the ocean? She opened her mouth, but nothing intelligent tried to come out so she shut it again. She looked around, for a way out maybe, and finding none, she shrugged. "Why not?" She said with a laugh. Damn it, did she just agree with him, tell him that she would? What was it about this guy that she couldn't say 'no' to?

"Great. You hungry?"

She was, having skipped breakfast. Back in the car, they drove into the city, and to a restaurant called Chillingsworth Bistro. Once again he opened the door for her and helped her out, handing the keys to a valet. Inside, he was recognized right away.

"Mr. Wayne! Your usual table?"

"Please, Rodney." Rodney, the waiter or whatever they were called in this high priced establishment, led them to a table almost in the center of the room. He pulled out a chair for Buffy and then placed menus in front of them both. He bowed as he left, promising that someone would be along shortly. "I hope your disliking of your time in Paris did not include the food."

"No," she answered, knowing French good enough to read the menu. "No. The food I liked."

"Good. Is it too early for wine?" He asked, glancing at this watch. "It is nearly eleven. Maybe a little."

Their waiter came and they ordered. Buffy ordered the Cognac Shrimp with Beurre Blanc Sauce, with a couscous and red pepper bean salad on the side. Bruce ordered the Wine-Poached Salmon with black truffles. In spite of what he had just said, he still ordered a bottle of wine: a Chardonnay she could only guess cost more than anything she currently owned combined. The wine came first and was poured. It had a nice mellowed green apple taste, with just a hint of oak. Chablis, if she had to guess. She had learned something while in France.

They talked and laughed and then the food came and then they ate and talked and laughed some more. Buffy could not help but feel a little paranoid. Every time she glanced around, someone was looking at them. She imagined that anyone who was seen with Bruce Wayne, Gotham's very own prince, was a topic of much discussion. She knew she should avoid this sort of thing, but her voice of reason was choosing at this moment to remain silent.

The more time she spent with him, the more she realized that his spoiled, rich boy act was just that – an act. It was a mechanism designed to keep Batman as far away from him as possible, keeping the persona as distinguished as feasible to make even those who briefly thought for a second that there was a possibility that the two could be the same person to dismiss it instantly. In fact, he was more down to earth than she could have imagined, and the attention he got, while he appeared to revel in it, in actuality he wanted nothing more than to shy away from it. She guessed that he would much rather be left alone, fight crime at night, and just enjoy his days as he saw fit, out of the public eye, away from attention, without all the scrutiny. In other words, he just wanted to be left alone to do his thing.

Once lunch was through, he escorted her back outside where the car was waiting for them. Back into the Gotham streets, he didn't drive nearly as fast as he did before, actually going rather slow in her opinion, especially compared to before, as if taking his time before they said good-bye.

"I shouldn't have sprung the yacht and fireworks on you like I did. If you aren't comfortable, and wanted to call it off, I would understand."

Buffy detected a note of insecurity. Go figure. He hid it well. She smiled at him. "Well, it was kinda sudden. Out of the blue sort of thing. I wasn't expecting you to follow through with it though."

He pulled the car over to the side and put it in park. For a few moments he just sat there, staring at the street, a very serious look on his face. Buffy wasn't sure what was going on, and she wondered if what she had said had made him angry.

"There is just something about you that I can't shake," he admitted. "I know we barely know each other, but I can't get you out of my head."

"What a coincidence," she said, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "There's something we have in common."

He chuckled, shifting in the seat to look at her. "So, what do we do now?"

She smiled, actually feeling herself blush like she was back in high school. "Play it by ear."

"Go where ever it takes us," he said, nodding. "I can deal with that." He put the car in park, but did not take off just yet. "So, tomorrow night?"

She sighed, feeling truly, genuinely happy, if not a little scared. "What time should I be ready?"